An economics professor at Peking University is in danger of losing his job because of his outspoken criticism of China’s political leaders.

Xia Yeliang was told that the university would vote on whether to keep him on the faculty. Xia returned this fall to Peking U from a visiting professorship in the USA.

The university has not said why he is being subjected to the vote. The professor said it was related to his liberal political views and his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government. Administrators at the School of Economics and elsewhere in the university declined interview requests from The Chronicle.

In 2008, Mr. Xia was one of the first people to sign Charter 08, a petition that called for democratic freedoms and human rights in China. Eventually more than 300 intellectuals signed the statement.

In the following year, the professor wrote a letter on his blog to Liu Yunshan, then director of the Communist Party’s propaganda department and now a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the group of politicians who run China. The letter criticized Mr. Liu for “how he thinks he has the power to control other people’s thoughts” and called for an end to censorship.

Xia’s problems are another indicator of the tough stance against free expression set by China’s new president, Xi Jinping, who is wary of Western influences on the Chinese public.

University professors have been advised to steer away from certain topics, such as democracy and free speech, in classroom discussions and lecture. China’s Internet censors have also clamped down hard on users of Sina Weibo, the country’s native version of Twitter. A prominent Weibo user, businessman Charles Xue Biqun, was arrested on sex-crime charges last month and apparently was compelled to recant his criticism of the government on national TV several days ago.

Professor Xia is another lightning rod for government efforts to squelch criticism of the Party leadership.

I just can not abide encouraging a low information citizen system. We must bring sharp penetrating journalism back. The following shows a fine effort to help, under attack by the party that most depends on ignorance.

My department chair, Greg Downey, has been working to turn this around for more than a week; in a statement posted on the website of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication he called it “a direct assault on our academic freedom in research, teaching and service.” The department has also set up a blog that, among other things, provides both a portrait of the ever-changing GOP explanation for this action - and its determination to see it through. My colleague, Katy Culver, put up a terrific tribute to the importance of this work at her blog at PBS Media Shift, highlighting some of the great reporting by our students. The University of Wisconsin has also spoken out in support of the collaboration. Addressing the finance committee action, the dean of the College of Letters and Sciences called it “legislative mismanagement and overreach at its worst.” You can find an overview of events, coverage and reaction archived here at the center website. You can find links to all the terrific work done by my students. And you can find a link to this news story which warns that center itself might not survive this attack.

So I want to quote here in more detail from a letter sent to the finance committee by former interns of the center:

As students and graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison who have previously interned, worked at or collaborated with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, we can attest that the award-winning Center’s presence on campus has been fundamental to helping us begin our careers as journalists. At the Center, we exposed how college campuses fail to support victims of sexual assaults; a former governor’s violation of state travel regulations; the exploitation of foreign workers in Wisconsin tourist zones, and conducted dozens of other important investigations. Many of us have built upon our experiences at the Center by later reporting for Wisconsin and national media including Bloomberg, the Associated Press and Forbes, in cities and towns across Wisconsin and the United States, and in several countries throughout the world.

A core mission of the Center is to train the next generation of investigative journalists. It meets this mission in large part by collaborating with UW faculty in the Journalism school to provide students with experience in using public records, data, interviews and other research tools in their investigative reporting. Having the Center on campus allows Center staff to collaborate closely with UW students on a daily basis. Both the involvement of UW faculty and the presence of the Center on campus are critical to providing students with the opportunity to learn the ethics, values and logistics of reporting for the public good.

And this letter raises the two issues that I think are critical here. One is that we want to teach young journalists to value “reporting for the public good”. We need more journalists who care about that and we need more investment in that kind of reporting. And second, our legislators may feel that by taking this action they are either protecting themselves or punishing the center. But they are foremost punishing students. This is a move that diminishes rather than improves the quality of education at this uniquely great university that has thrived in a relatively small, mostly rural state in the upper Midwest.

Anti-Science Bill Dies in Arizona

Arizona’s Senate Bill 1213 died on February 22, 2013, when the deadline for Senate bills to be heard in their Senate committees passed. A typical instance of the “academic freedom” strategy for undermining the integrity of science education, SB 1213 specifically targeted “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming[,] and human cloning” as supposedly controversial. Unusually, however, a sponsor of the bill, Judy Burges (R-District 22), told the Arizona Star (February 5, 2013) that climate science was her primary concern, complaining of imbalance in the presentation of climate change in the public schools.NCSE

Anti-Science Bill Dies in Oklahoma

Senate Bill 758 (document), the so-called Oklahoma Science Education Act, which would have undermined the integrity of science education in the Sooner State, is dead. February 25, 2013, was the deadline for Senate bills to pass their committees, but the Senate Education Committee adjourned its February 25, 2013, meeting without considering it. Still active in the Oklahoma legislature is House Bill 1674 (document), styled the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act, which differs from SB 758 primarily in mentioning “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning” as supposedly controversial topics. HB 1674 passed the House Education Committee on a 9-8 vote on February 19, 2013.NCSE

Anti-Science Bill Dies in Indiana

Indiana’s House Bill 1283 died on February 25, 2013, when the deadline for House bills to have their third reading in the House passed. The fate of the bill was not unexpected: its sponsor Jeff Thompson (R-District 28) told the Lafayette Journal and Courier (February 3, 2013) that he thought that it would not receive a hearing in the House Education Committee, and a spokesperson for the committee’s chair said that it would not receive a hearing due to the volume of bills and the limited time to address them.

Claiming that “some subjects, including, but not limited to, science, history, and health, have produced differing conclusions and theories on some topics,” HB 1283 would have allowed teachers “to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the strengths and weaknesses of conclusions and theories being presented in a course being taught by the teacher” and prohibited state and local education authorities from prohibiting them from doing so.NCSE

After Initial Problems, SpaceX Dragon Now Looking Good On Orbit

A dramatic series of events unfolded this morning shortly after the private commercial company SpaceX launched their Dragon capsule into space. This launch was part of the second of 12 planned missions to bring supplies and equipment to the International Space Station (ISS).

To be clear, things are looking good now, and it looks like the mission will proceed. Just not quite as planned.slate.com

In biology class, public school students can’t generally argue that dinosaurs and people ran around Earth at the same time, at least not without risking a big fat F. But that could soon change for kids in Oklahoma: On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Common Education committee is expected to consider a House bill that would forbid teachers from penalizing students who turn in papers attempting to debunk almost universally accepted scientific theories such as biological evolution and anthropogenic (human-driven) climate change.

Gus Blackwell, the Republican state representative who introduced the bill, insists that his legislation has nothing to do with religion; it simply encourages scientific exploration. “I proposed this bill because there are teachers and students who may be afraid of going against what they see in their textbooks,” says Blackwell, who previously spent 20 years working for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. “A student has the freedom to write a paper that points out that highly complex life may not be explained by chance mutations.”

These bills are “a kind of code for people who are opposed to teaching climate change and evolution.”

Stated another way, students could make untestable, faith-based claims in science classes without fear of receiving a poor mark.

HB1674 is the latest in an ongoing series of “academic freedom” bills aimed at watering down the teaching of science on highly charged topics. Instead of requiring that teachers and textbooks include creationism—see the bill proposed by Missouri state Rep. Rick Brattin—HB1674’s crafters say it merely encourages teachers and students to question, as the bill puts it, the “scientific strengths and weaknesses” of topics that “cause controversy,” including “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.”

Since the start of the New Year the GOP has had such a laser focus on fiscal matters that they’ve had time to introduce or advance the following anti-science bills in state legislatures:ColoradoMontanaMissouriIndianaOklahomaArizona

When I left the GOP in 2009 I had a choice - I could have remained an (I)ndependent, but it’s exactly this type of anti-science bullshit that forced me to register Democrat rather than to take non stand on important science issues.

With the new legislative session beginning in most states around the country, this is the time that we see creationist bills crop up all over the place. Colorado has one (HB 13-1089), disguised, as many of them are, as a bill to boost “academic freedom” — but only about subjects where they think the textbooks and the scientific consensus are wrong.

The bill creates an “Academic Freedom Act” (act) for both K-12 public schools and institutions of higher education in the state of Colorado (act). The provisions of the acts direct teachers to create an environment that encourages students to intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions and learn about scientific evidence related to biological and chemical evolution, global warming, and human cloning.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the bill just happens to require “academic freedom” on those ideas on which they think the scientists have it completely wrong. Because if they were actually interested in “academic freedom” and wanting students to “intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions,” wouldn’t that apply to all scientific questions?

Kevin MacDonald, a psychology professor at Cal State Long Beach, has been called a white supremacist, neo-Nazi and an anti-Semite.

He recently told the Orange County Register he is a “white advocate.”

By any label, he attracts controversy like a lightning rod. His viewpoints have led students in the mixed bag that’s Southern California to boycott his classes, CBS Los Angeles reported, and challenge his stance, as recorded on Youtube.

The university says it defends MacDonald’s academic freedom and freedom of speech, but his personal and academic opinions are entirely his own, CBSLA wrote.

Care 2, a public advocacy website, published an essay this week about MacDonald titled: “Why Is A White Supremacist a Professor at Cal State University?” The blunt editorial asserted that students’ rights weren’t protected on the diverse campus in Long Beach.

The editorial detailed the anti-Jewish and anti-immigration writings that have made him popular in neo-Nazi circles. It quoted extensively from a recent article he wrote for the Occidental Observer, a website he edits on “themes of white identity, white interests,” according to the mission statement.

In the essay, headlined “Disenfranchised White Males: Time for Secession,” he analyzed minority voting patterns — especially those of Jews and Asians — and concluded that the Republicans’ strategy to recruit more Hispanics was misguided: “What we have here is a situation in which around 70 percent of traditional American White men (correcting for the overly inclusive White’ category used by the media) are now pretty much officially disenfranchised in a country where they see themselves as the founding population. That’s a lot of angry White men.”

No one doubts that globalization is one of the most important trends of our day. Nor does anyone question that it affects what we study, how we teach, and whom we seek to reach. Beyond that, however, there is little consensus.

As American universities expand their global footprint with branch campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere, many faculty are concerned about oppressive governance, human-rights violations, and lack of academic freedom abroad. Meanwhile administrators grapple with how these new ventures—and globalization in general—will change teaching and research in the United States. As higher education seeks new audiences, will it be able to maintain the significance and character of the liberal arts, which have played such a crucial role in the educational mission of the American university?

Similarly educators increasingly agree that all undergraduates ought to pursue some study abroad. But should it involve language study and full cultural immersion? Or short-term travel and networking through internships and other kinds of programs?

The lack of clarity is especially troubling in my own field of area studies, where a growing number of scholars have abandoned older practices in favor of new forms of global study.

NOTE: This video has been edited to eliminate an audio glitch 8 minutes into the talk.

Executive director Genie Scott talks about the history of creationist legislation (especially in Florida), including bills that allow teachers to “critically analyze” evolution or present the “full range of scientific views of origins”. Where: University of South Florida. When: 2/9/2012

In a recent interview for a Norwegian magazine (Teknisk Ukeblad, 0412), the IPCC chair Rajendra Kumar Pachauri told the journalist that he had received death threats in connection with his role as a head for the IPCC. There have also been recent reports of threats and harassment of climate scientists for their stance on climate change (Kerry Emanuel. Katharine Hayhoe, Australian climate scientists, Phil Jones, Barton campaign, and Inhofe’s black list).

These incidents appear as an unpleasant deja vu from my past, smacking of attempts to suppress the freedom of speech. They remind me of the days when I did my national service as a border patrol at the Soviet-Norwegian border in 1988-1989 (Norway and Russia - then Soviet - share a 196 km long common border in the high north), where we stood up for our freedom and democracy. Freedom of speech was tacitly implied as one of the ingredients of an open democracy, which in our minds was the West. There was an understanding that the other side of the iron curtain represented an oppressive regime.

If the people who threat and harass climate scientists were to have their way, I fear we would be heading for a world resembling the other side of the iron curtain of 1989. The absence of oppression and harassment is a prerequisite for sound and functioning science. Oppressive regimes are not known for producing good science, and blind ideology have often been unsustainable. Therefore, threats and such dishonorable campaigns represent a concern.

It seems that tenure is always in the news. Long an article of faith for most faculty members, tenure is being put on the defensive almost everywhere, including within the academy itself. During the past decade, the numbers of tenured and tenure-track professors have sharply declined from nearly one-half of the faculty to about one-third. Most courses in four-year colleges and universities as well as community colleges are now taught by contingent faculty, including part-time adjuncts, graduate students, and holders of full-time nontenure-track positions. Does anyone care?

Tenure is rooted in the American Association of University Professors statement on academic freedom and tenure that for many faculty members has become tantamount to religious dogma, impervious to forces of change, regardless of source. The dogma is that the common good is served by the free pursuit of truth under the principles of academic freedom, buttressed by the lifetime job security of tenure. While an individual’s tenure may be revoked for cause, this rarely used action is protected by extraordinary and lengthy procedural requirements equivalent to a trial.

If tenure is so vital, why is it on the defensive and, in fact, seriously losing ground? Where is the public outrage? There is none outside the confines of higher education, and even there it is hardly universal.

Three factors are in play. First, the large expansion of higher education in the United States during the past 50 years has stripped the academy of its mystery as a cloistered monastery. The curtain has been opened, revealing the meaning and consequences of the tenure system. As with any dogma, religious or secular, once its status as truth is questioned and its claims considered dubious, true believers are left with a leap of faith.

Second, colleges—public and private—are firmly embedded in the political system and are major players in the competition for public money. In that environment, political leaders are not sympathetic to claims to ex­traordinary privilege such as lifelong employment for tenured faculty.

Third, at a time of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, the security and independence of tenure is hard for millions of people adversely affected by the economy to understand, much less embrace. This attitude is bolstered by reports that question quality and outcomes in higher education.

The problem, then, is not a lack of public understanding of how colleges work and how the common good is served by tenure. The problem is that the public does understand when self-interest is tied to the common good.

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